Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is probably the most famous image in French Gothic art.
It is 110 ft highÑthe first cathedral built on a truly monumental scale. With its compact, cruciform plan, its sexpartite vaulting, flying buttresses and vastly enlarged windows, it became a prototype for future French cathedrals. Crusaders prayed here before leaving on their holy wars, and polyphonic music developed in the cathedral. Revolutionaries dedicated the cathedral first to the cult of Reason, and then to the cult of the Supreme being. The church interior was used as a warehouse for the storage of food. It was also here that NapolŽon, wishing to emphasize the primacy of the state over the church, crowned himself emperor, and then crowned JosŽphine, his Martinique-born wife, as his empress.